Teachers train in STEM in Berlin
A group of eight professors from the Departments of Experimental Sciences and Mathematics and Informatics of the Nuno de Santa Maria de Tomar School Group held, from January 14 to 18, 2019, in Berlin, a training entitled “Teaching training on STEM Education” at within the Erasmus+ project, in cooperation with Globtrain GbR.
This training is part of an Erasmus+ project, which aims to promote lifelong learning and improve the quality and effectiveness of education and training.
These actions promote a better integration of the European areas of education, training, youth and sport and also allow the appreciation of cultural diversity and the adoption of an active European citizenship.
The training carried out was within the scope of STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), since currently teaching in the areas of mathematics and science is still far from contributing to the integral training of the 21st century student. STEM advocates integrated learning in different areas: Science provides observation, experimentation, prediction, questioning; Technology allows invention, use of tools, execution; Engineering solves concrete problems, designs and builds; Mathematics calculates and builds algorithms.
Several studies in this area reveal that STEM Education stimulates students' curiosity by creating an additional motivation that can involve them in their own learning from an early age. Furthermore, it allows them to envisage possible professional careers, due to their autonomy, critical thinking and development of the multiple skills that it provides and that Traditional Education does not develop.
The training began by characterizing STEM Learning, referring to its pillars - electronics, mechanics, programming, teamwork and supervision by accredited teachers - which, through robotics, can allow the student to recreate real situations to solve problems, articulating knowledge from different areas.
A robot is a machine or set of devices that performs certain tasks when guided by automatic controls. In this sense, the robot becomes useful for learning as it will allow the student to build knowledge, develop logical reasoning, create algorithms, follow pre-established rules, communicate procedures and conclusions, in a continuous process of trial and error. Thus, one starts in the programming language.
In the midst of the information age, the incessant and eminent search for knowledge makes it necessary to update and use didactic resources that reform the teaching process, rethinking pedagogical and learning practices, instigating and creating situations of "provocation" in students (output comfort zone), so that they can build their own solutions to the daily problems that surround them. The use of technology, in addition to narrowing the path between empirical knowledge and scientific knowledge, develops autonomy.
In this training, contact was made with the WeDo 2.0 software and the respective Lego Education kit, which was explored in association with the construction of robots, exploring various models with emphasis on the operation of motors and sensors, which was therefore integrated an expressive practical component.
We believe that the integration of Robotics in teaching will contribute to the development of academic skills/skills provided for in the Student Profile at Compulsory Schooling, as it stimulates critical thinking, develops creativity for problem solving, trains proactive, collaborative citizens throughout his school and professional life. Robotics also provides, through the use and applicability of the necessary tools, to work on important skills for psychomotor and cognitive development, expanding the capacity for logical reasoning and for inspiring, engaging and effective learning.
Considering this training essential for the development of students' skills, the grouping will create all the conditions for students to be able to contact and work with these tools in the future.
The project team